City of Spokane officials say that although the process has been long, plans to extend Riverside Avenue east of downtown are moving forward and construction on the first phase of the long-planned project could begin next year. Meanwhile, related efforts to improve the so-called Division Street gateway downtown also are advancing, they say.

The planned extension of Riverside, currently estimated to cost $15 million, would carry the arterial east from Division for about a half-mile, where it would turn to the north to connect with Spokane Falls Boulevard near the eastern edge of the Riverpoint Campus.

A second phase would extend a new leg of the roadway another three-quarters of a mile farther east along the southern edge of the Spokane River. It would pass beneath the Keefe Bridge, and connect with Trent Avenue near Perry Street. The third and final phase would connect that latter leg of the extension with Sprague Avenue to the south.

The project's been slated for a number of years, and $7 million in funding for the project was secured as far back as 2005.

"A lot of it is just process," especially when state and federal funds are involved, says Dave Mandyke, the city's public works director. He says much of the time has been spent completing reviews by federal officials of possible alignments of the extension.

"You evaluate three different alignments. That gets reviewed everywhere from Washington, D.C., to Olympia to San Francisco," he says.

In December, the Spokane City Council passed a resolution to proceed with design and construction after that years-long Federal Highway Administration approval process was completed. Now, the city is on the verge of submitting a right-of-way plan for the project to the Washington state Department of Transportation, Mandyke says. Once that's approved by DOT, the city should be cleared to begin acquiring rights of way for the project from various entities, including Washington State University and the owner of the building occupied by InterDecor Inc., Mandyke says. Currently, the city hopes that construction can begin on the project in 2010.

"They can't release any funds or lift a shovelful of dirt until they get that final approval," says Melissa Eadie, a city of Spokane economic development planner.

The Riverside extension is being done in tandem with efforts to improve the section of Division between Interstate 90 and the Spokane River, informally known as a gateway to the city. Eadie says the city wants Division there to connect the downtown core to the University District east of it, rather than to divide them.

"The thinking has been that there is a lot you can do to calm state highways in urban areas and make them accessible to users in all modes," she says. "It's actually a corridor from the off-ramps all the way to the river."

"Safety is a major consideration," Eadie says, as the city seeks to encourage bike and pedestrian crossover between the U-District and the downtown core. Aesthetic issues on the primary entry point to the city are not lost on the city either, she says.

The Division Street gateway improvements will be a collaborative effort among three city departments: business and economic development, planning services, and public works, Eadie says.

The city has requested $650,000 from the state to do investigation and engineering for the Division Street gateway projects next year and to work on a plan to calm traffic on Spokane Falls Boulevard, Eadie says. She says the Riverside extension project will help make Spokane Falls more pedestrian-friendly.

"Construction of the Riverside extension will take more traffic off it; it will be quieter," she says.

Mandyke says the Riverside extension, with its planned five-foot wide bike lanes and separated sidewalks, will contribute much to the goal of getting pedestrians safely back and forth across Division.

He says streetscape improvements such as lighting and textured sidewalks are planned all along Division between Third and Spokane Falls as part of a gateway improvement plan.

Additionally, the public works department is seeking about $500,000 to make aesthetic improvements to the I-90 off-ramp area at Division and Third, Mandyke says. In that project, the department would beautify the area underneath I-90 at the Division off-ramp.